The Shield Wall on El Capitan

Written by Peder Ourom

Photo of Paul Bernsten, Shield Head Wall, Yosemite, California. 1979.

The Zodiac, The Shield, Mescalito, and Tangerine Trip were the best wall routes in the 1970s, and the most coveted. These routes had one thing in common, they were first imagined and climbed by Charlie Porter. Three climb up the steep overhanging SE side of El Capitan, the aptly named Crazy Wall, and one ascends the amazing Shield headwall to the left of the Nose route. Charlie established 2 of these routes in 1972, and 2 more in 1973. Two years later he added a fifth major route, Excalibur. It was rumoured to have mandatory 5.11 Off width sections. That one we didn’t even talk about.